Rufus Shaw

by **friarwolf** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:48 am

Not a good night for an alum and his wife.............

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... cc700.html

by **mustangbill67** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:57 pm

I believe Rufus played football and ran track while at SMU in the early 70"s. Myrdel, can you tell us anything about Rufus. A tragic loss.

by **mrydel** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:14 pm

mustangbill67 wrote:I believe Rufus played football and ran track while at SMU in the early 70"s. Myrdel, can you tell us anything about Rufus. A tragic loss.

Sorry. He is one year younger but I do not recall him.

by **smu diamond m** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:06 pm

Wow, I've been out of town for a week and a half and missed some big stuff happening... condolences for the family, especially their kids.

by **mustangbill67** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:55 am

Rufus Shaw after transferring from Stanford was a member of the SMU 4X100 (440 yard relay) Relay Team that won three Southwest Conference titles in a row (1971-73)Michael Rideau, Joe Pouncy, Rufus Shaw and Gene Pouncy).

by **Stallion** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:02 am

He was a good player in Football and along with Kenny Harrison and Freeman Johns was part of a gifted receiving corp that Dave Smith basically wasted in the wishbone.

by **EastStang** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:05 am

Terrible news. I knew Rufus who seemed like a pretty good guy at SMU. What pressures led to this tragedy will trickle out. Obviously the guy needed help. Our prayers to his friends, his wife's friends and family.

by **mrydel** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:07 am

I knew the Pounceys but can not recall Rufus. Dave Smith would not have been there as head coach during Shaw's time would he? Maybe for a senior year if he was redshirted, but he should have graduated around 1973. Wasn't Hayden still there thru 73?

by **Stallion** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:10 am

Hayden Fry was fired in 1972. I specifically remember those three getting wasted in the wishbone. They were quality athletes. I think I read Rufus Shaw was on a Relay Team that set a World record(may have meant National High School record) in the 100 in High School

by **mrydel** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:15 am

Stallion wrote:Hayden Fry was fired in 1972. I specifically remember those three getting wasted in the wishbone. They were quality athletes. I think I read Rufus Shaw was on a Relay Team that set a National record in the 100 in High School

I thought Hayden had made it one more year than that. I graduated in 72 so that would mean Hayden was fired during the next football season. Realize that not only is my memory bad, but in those days of
pre-Gorenet, having moved to New York I could not get any information on SMU without extreme difficulty.

by **Stallion** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:16 am

This is a great summary of the accomplishments of the Pouncy Twins and Rufus Shaw in BOTH high school and college from the SMU Letterman Database. It was a good time for SMU and local high school athletes with guys like Wayne Morris, Ira Terrell, Sammy Hervey, The Pouncey Twins and Rufus Shaw deciding to play for the hometown team. Thank you Jerry LeVias.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:vR ... cd=7&gl=us

by **EastStang** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:06 pm

With the Pouncy twins, Shaw, Rideau and Glen Derwin SMU had a huge NCAA meet that year. The twins placed 1-2 in the 220 and 2-1 in the 100. We won the 440 relay and Derwin placed in the top 5 in the javelin. A 5 man track team that was truly amazing. I think we placed 20th in the NCAA that year with only 5 competitors.

by **Stallion** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:34 pm

Usually at National Track Championships scoring high at a couple of events will get you a lot higher than 20th. Probably Top 10. SMU routinely finshed higher at those events in 1980s even with only a few superlative performances. Later it was the Field events like Shot Put and Hammer that SMU excelled at with International competitive throwers.

by **mustangbill67** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:54 pm

This thread should probably be moved to Other Sports. I really do miss world class track in Dallas and SMU.

by **Rayburn** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:07 pm

I remember Rufus Shaw at SMU. Several years after he graduated he was a regular on a short-lived late night roundtable talk show that was sort of like Fox's Red Eye. Other than Rufus, the only other person I recall being on the show was the comedy writer Bruce Vilanch.

Rufus was very good on TV, very funny and he had a hip and irreverant take on the issues. He mentioned SMU and his Texas roots often.

Damn sorry to hear about this. R.I.P. Rufus Shaw.

Rufus Shaw

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